💧 Dirty water 😴 Extremely boring

ditchwater

8.8

A drink or performance that seems very weak and boring

noun
/ˈdɪtʃˌwɔːtər/

Informal

: aburrido

Half of them were as dull as ditchwater.

Examples

Pray you never meet me again, Ditchwater Sal.

Stardust (2007)
What's it to be, Ditchwater Sal?

Stardust (2007)
Short for "ditchwater, dull as."

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
Do you have any idea what a big mistake you've made, Ditchwater Sal?

Stardust (2007)
It's short for "ditchwater," and that is a simile for "dull."

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
They call me Ditchie, short for "ditchwater, dull as."

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
(Dull as ditchwater to anyone but serious prospective employers and possibly my peers who are trying to pick up skills, but invaluable to hiring managers in getting an insight into how I do my job with the real tools I use every day).

Blog text (34)
The presentation was so boring that it felt like listening to ditchwater.
Many of the films this year have been as exciting as ditchwater.
Her explanation of the process was as uninspiring as ditchwater.

Synonyms

tinker's dam

vsditchwater

Archaic

9.9

Something of very little or no value

marks things as dull, weak, or of little value instead of useless

Surface Forms

ditchwater singular

ditchwaters plural

Morphology

ditchwater = ditch + water (opaque) = ditch + water

Although the compound literally means water in a ditch, the figurative sense 'something extremely dull, weak, or worthless' is idiomatic and not predictable by standard compositional rules.

Etymology

Ditchwater is used to call something very dull or weak by comparing it to ditch + water, which is 'dirty' and 'tasteless', so calling a movie or a drink 'ditchwater' means it has no flavour, energy, or value.